diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/ManifestReader.java b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/ManifestReader.java
index 8311c1998ebd..a01000fccf7c 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/ManifestReader.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/ManifestReader.java
@@ -271,6 +271,7 @@ private InclusiveMetricsEvaluator metricsEvaluator() {
   private static boolean requireStatsProjection(Expression rowFilter, Collection<String> columns) {
     // Make sure we have all stats columns for metrics evaluator
     return rowFilter != Expressions.alwaysTrue() &&
+         columns != null &&
         !columns.containsAll(ManifestReader.ALL_COLUMNS) &&
         !columns.containsAll(STATS_COLUMNS);
   }