diff --git a/network/common/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/network/client/TransportClientFactory.java b/network/common/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/network/client/TransportClientFactory.java
index 4763afee0ed11..17b59f6ce8715 100644
--- a/network/common/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/network/client/TransportClientFactory.java
+++ b/network/common/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/network/client/TransportClientFactory.java
@@ -129,26 +129,28 @@ public TransportClient createClient(String remoteHost, int remotePort) throws IO
 
     int clientIndex = rand.nextInt(numConnectionsPerPeer);
     TransportClient cachedClient = clientPool.clients[clientIndex];
-    if (cachedClient != null) {
-      if (cachedClient.isActive()) {
-        logger.trace("Returning cached connection to {}: {}", address, cachedClient);
-        return cachedClient;
-      } else {
-        logger.info("Found inactive connection to {}, closing it.", address);
-        clientPool.clients[clientIndex] = null;  // Remove inactive clients.
-      }
+
+    if (cachedClient != null && cachedClient.isActive()) {
+      logger.trace("Returning cached connection to {}: {}", address, cachedClient);
+      return cachedClient;
     }
 
     // If we reach here, we don't have an existing connection open. Let's create a new one.
-    // Multiple threads might race here to create new connections. Let's keep only one of them
-    // active at anytime.
+    // Multiple threads might race here to create new connections. Keep only one of them active.
     synchronized (clientPool.locks[clientIndex]) {
-      if (clientPool.clients[clientIndex] == null || !clientPool.clients[clientIndex].isActive()) {
-        clientPool.clients[clientIndex] = createClient(address);
+      cachedClient = clientPool.clients[clientIndex];
+
+      if (cachedClient != null) {
+        if (cachedClient.isActive()) {
+          logger.trace("Returning cached connection to {}: {}", address, cachedClient);
+          return cachedClient;
+        } else {
+          logger.info("Found inactive connection to {}, creating a new one.", address);
+        }
       }
+      clientPool.clients[clientIndex] = createClient(address);
+      return clientPool.clients[clientIndex];
     }
-
-    return clientPool.clients[clientIndex];
   }
 
   /** Create a completely new {@link TransportClient} to the remote address. */
@@ -203,7 +205,7 @@ public void initChannel(SocketChannel ch) {
     long postBootstrap = System.nanoTime();
 
     logger.debug("Successfully created connection to {} after {} ms ({} ms spent in bootstraps)",
-        address, (postBootstrap - preConnect) / 1000000, (postBootstrap - preBootstrap) / 1000000);
+      address, (postBootstrap - preConnect) / 1000000, (postBootstrap - preBootstrap) / 1000000);
 
     return client;
   }