diff --git a/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/metrics/_internal/aggregation.py b/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/metrics/_internal/aggregation.py
index ea48aa70239..ae21db907dd 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/metrics/_internal/aggregation.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/metrics/_internal/aggregation.py
@@ -288,13 +288,11 @@ def collect(
         """
         Atomically return a point for the current value of the metric.
         """
-
         with self._lock:
+            if not any(self._bucket_counts):
+                return None
 
-            bucket_counts = [
-                bucket_count for bucket_count in self._bucket_counts
-            ]
-
+            bucket_counts = self._bucket_counts
             start_time_unix_nano = self._start_time_unix_nano
             sum_ = self._sum
             max_ = self._max