diff --git a/hazelcast/src/main/java/com/hazelcast/spi/discovery/DiscoveryStrategy.java b/hazelcast/src/main/java/com/hazelcast/spi/discovery/DiscoveryStrategy.java
index 0fce80eea4e87..0c98787d288fc 100644
--- a/hazelcast/src/main/java/com/hazelcast/spi/discovery/DiscoveryStrategy.java
+++ b/hazelcast/src/main/java/com/hazelcast/spi/discovery/DiscoveryStrategy.java
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@
 import com.hazelcast.spi.partitiongroup.PartitionGroupStrategy;
 
 import java.util.Collection;
-import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.Map;
 
 /**
@@ -93,7 +92,7 @@ default PartitionGroupStrategy getPartitionGroupStrategy(Collection<? extends Me
      */
     @Deprecated
     default PartitionGroupStrategy getPartitionGroupStrategy() {
-        return Collections::emptyList;
+        return null;
     }
 
     /**