diff --git a/google-cloud-bigtable/pom.xml b/google-cloud-bigtable/pom.xml
index 6dd468e778..7d106591d1 100644
--- a/google-cloud-bigtable/pom.xml
+++ b/google-cloud-bigtable/pom.xml
@@ -179,11 +179,6 @@
       <groupId>io.grpc</groupId>
       <artifactId>grpc-core</artifactId>
     </dependency>
-    <dependency>
-      <groupId>io.grpc</groupId>
-      <artifactId>grpc-grpclb</artifactId>
-      <scope>runtime</scope>
-    </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>io.grpc</groupId>
       <artifactId>grpc-googleapis</artifactId>
@@ -698,11 +693,10 @@
         <artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
         <configuration>
           <!--
-            grpc-grpclb is used at runtime using reflection
             grpc-auth is not directly used transitively, but is pulled to align with other grpc parts
             opencensus-impl-core is brought in transitively through opencensus-impl
             -->
-          <usedDependencies>io.grpc:grpc-auth,io.grpc:grpc-grpclb</usedDependencies>
+          <usedDependencies>io.grpc:grpc-auth</usedDependencies>
           <ignoredUsedUndeclaredDependencies>
             <ignoredUsedUndeclaredDependency>io.opencensus:opencensus-impl-core</ignoredUsedUndeclaredDependency>
           </ignoredUsedUndeclaredDependencies>
diff --git a/google-cloud-bigtable/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigtable/data/v2/stub/EnhancedBigtableStubSettings.java b/google-cloud-bigtable/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigtable/data/v2/stub/EnhancedBigtableStubSettings.java
index 339df1dbaf..9535f1d1ae 100644
--- a/google-cloud-bigtable/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigtable/data/v2/stub/EnhancedBigtableStubSettings.java
+++ b/google-cloud-bigtable/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigtable/data/v2/stub/EnhancedBigtableStubSettings.java
@@ -356,10 +356,7 @@ public static InstantiatingGrpcChannelProvider.Builder defaultGrpcTransportProvi
         .setMaxInboundMessageSize(MAX_MESSAGE_SIZE)
         .setKeepAliveTime(Duration.ofSeconds(30)) // sends ping in this interval
         .setKeepAliveTimeout(
-            Duration.ofSeconds(10)) // wait this long before considering the connection dead
-        // Attempts direct access to CBT service over gRPC to improve throughput,
-        // whether the attempt is allowed is totally controlled by service owner.
-        .setAttemptDirectPath(true);
+            Duration.ofSeconds(10)); // wait this long before considering the connection dead
   }
 
   @SuppressWarnings("WeakerAccess")