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 76bce8592816..9afd5decd5e6 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
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 
 import java.io.Closeable;
 import java.io.IOException;
-import java.lang.reflect.Field;
 import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
 import java.net.SocketAddress;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -37,7 +36,6 @@
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelOption;
 import io.netty.channel.EventLoopGroup;
 import io.netty.channel.socket.SocketChannel;
-import io.netty.util.internal.PlatformDependent;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
@@ -67,6 +65,7 @@ public class TransportClientFactory implements Closeable {
 
   private final Class<? extends Channel> socketChannelClass;
   private EventLoopGroup workerGroup;
+  private PooledByteBufAllocator pooledAllocator;
 
   public TransportClientFactory(
       TransportContext context,
@@ -80,6 +79,8 @@ public TransportClientFactory(
     this.socketChannelClass = NettyUtils.getClientChannelClass(ioMode);
     // TODO: Make thread pool name configurable.
     this.workerGroup = NettyUtils.createEventLoop(ioMode, conf.clientThreads(), "shuffle-client");
+    this.pooledAllocator = NettyUtils.createPooledByteBufAllocator(
+      conf.preferDirectBufs(), false /* allowCache */, conf.clientThreads());
   }
 
   /**
@@ -115,11 +116,8 @@ public TransportClient createClient(String remoteHost, int remotePort) throws IO
        // Disable Nagle's Algorithm since we don't want packets to wait
       .option(ChannelOption.TCP_NODELAY, true)
       .option(ChannelOption.SO_KEEPALIVE, true)
-      .option(ChannelOption.CONNECT_TIMEOUT_MILLIS, conf.connectionTimeoutMs());
-
-    // Use pooled buffers to reduce temporary buffer allocation
-    bootstrap.option(ChannelOption.ALLOCATOR, NettyUtils.createPooledByteBufAllocator(
-      conf.preferDirectBufs(), false /* allowCache */, conf.clientThreads()));
+      .option(ChannelOption.CONNECT_TIMEOUT_MILLIS, conf.connectionTimeoutMs())
+      .option(ChannelOption.ALLOCATOR, pooledAllocator);
 
     final AtomicReference<TransportClient> clientRef = new AtomicReference<TransportClient>();
 
diff --git a/network/common/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/network/util/NettyUtils.java b/network/common/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/network/util/NettyUtils.java
index 5c654a6fd6eb..b3991a6577cf 100644
--- a/network/common/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/network/util/NettyUtils.java
+++ b/network/common/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/network/util/NettyUtils.java
@@ -109,9 +109,9 @@ public static String getRemoteAddress(Channel channel) {
 
   /**
    * Create a pooled ByteBuf allocator but disables the thread-local cache. Thread-local caches
-   * are disabled because the ByteBufs are allocated by the event loop thread, but released by the
-   * executor thread rather than the event loop thread. Those thread-local caches actually delay
-   * the recycling of buffers, leading to larger memory usage.
+   * are disabled for TransportClients because the ByteBufs are allocated by the event loop thread,
+   * but released by the executor thread rather than the event loop thread. Those thread-local
+   * caches actually delay the recycling of buffers, leading to larger memory usage.
    */
   public static PooledByteBufAllocator createPooledByteBufAllocator(
       boolean allowDirectBufs,