diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/ack/AckClusterUpdateSettingsTests.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/ack/AckClusterUpdateSettingsTests.java
index 8ba371aa5ae..3305469c780 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/ack/AckClusterUpdateSettingsTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/ack/AckClusterUpdateSettingsTests.java
@@ -101,7 +101,8 @@ public class AckClusterUpdateSettingsTests extends ElasticsearchIntegrationTest
             for (IndexRoutingTable indexRoutingTable : clusterState.routingTable()) {
                 for (IndexShardRoutingTable indexShardRoutingTable : indexRoutingTable) {
                     for (ShardRouting shardRouting : indexShardRoutingTable) {
-                        if (clusterState.nodes().get(shardRouting.currentNodeId()).id().equals(excludedNodeId)) {
+                        assert clusterState.nodes() != null;
+                        if (shardRouting.unassigned() == false && clusterState.nodes().get(shardRouting.currentNodeId()).id().equals(excludedNodeId)) {
                             //if the shard is still there it must be relocating and all nodes need to know, since the request was acknowledged
                             //reroute happens as part of the update settings and we made sure no throttling comes into the picture via settings
                             assertThat(shardRouting.relocating(), equalTo(true));