diff --git a/models/export.py b/models/export.py
index 32869c5e58bc..278fb476e783 100644
--- a/models/export.py
+++ b/models/export.py
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ def create_checkpoint(epoch, model, optimizer, ema, sparseml_wrapper, **kwargs):
 def load_checkpoint(type_, weights, device, cfg=None, hyp=None, nc=None, recipe=None, resume=None, rank=-1):
     with torch_distributed_zero_first(rank):
         attempt_download(weights)  # download if not found locally
-        check_download_sparsezoo_weights(weights)  # download from sparsezoo if zoo stub
+        weights = check_download_sparsezoo_weights(weights)  # download from sparsezoo if zoo stub
     ckpt = torch.load(weights[0] if isinstance(weights, list) or isinstance(weights, tuple)
                       else weights, map_location=device)  # load checkpoint
     start_epoch = ckpt['epoch'] + 1 if 'epoch' in ckpt else 0
diff --git a/utils/sparse.py b/utils/sparse.py
index ceafe5dc68c7..80dc222e7dd0 100644
--- a/utils/sparse.py
+++ b/utils/sparse.py
@@ -33,10 +33,10 @@ def check_download_sparsezoo_weights(path):
 
         return path
 
-    if not isinstance(path, list):
-        raise ValueError(f"unknown type for path given: {path}")
+    if isinstance(path, list):
+        return [check_download_sparsezoo_weights(p) for p in path]
 
-    return [check_download_sparsezoo_weights(p) for p in path]
+    return path
 
 
 class SparseMLWrapper(object):