diff --git a/extensions/kubernetes-client/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/client/deployment/KubernetesClientProcessor.java b/extensions/kubernetes-client/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/client/deployment/KubernetesClientProcessor.java
index dc8370dfd862a4..a2ee3d306f1965 100644
--- a/extensions/kubernetes-client/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/client/deployment/KubernetesClientProcessor.java
+++ b/extensions/kubernetes-client/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/kubernetes/client/deployment/KubernetesClientProcessor.java
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 package io.quarkus.kubernetes.client.deployment;
 
-import java.util.AbstractMap;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Collections;
@@ -10,16 +9,12 @@
 import java.util.function.Predicate;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
-import org.jboss.jandex.AnnotationInstance;
-import org.jboss.jandex.AnnotationTarget;
 import org.jboss.jandex.ClassInfo;
 import org.jboss.jandex.DotName;
 import org.jboss.jandex.IndexView;
 import org.jboss.jandex.Type;
 import org.jboss.logging.Logger;
 
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonFormat;
-
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.builder.VisitableBuilder;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.AnyType;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.IntOrString;
@@ -68,16 +63,15 @@ public class KubernetesClientProcessor {
     private static final DotName WATCHER = DotName.createSimple(Watcher.class.getName());
     private static final DotName RESOURCE_EVENT_HANDLER = DotName
             .createSimple(io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.informers.ResourceEventHandler.class.getName());
-    private static final DotName KUBERNETES_RESOURCE = DotName.createSimple(KubernetesResource.class.getName());
-    private static final DotName VALIDATION_SCHEMA = DotName.createSimple(ValidationSchema.class.getName());
+    private static final DotName KUBERNETES_RESOURCE = DotName
+            .createSimple(KubernetesResource.class.getName());
     private static final DotName KUBERNETES_RESOURCE_LIST = DotName
             .createSimple(KubernetesResourceList.class.getName());
-    private static final DotName KUBE_SCHEMA = DotName.createSimple(KubeSchema.class.getName());
     private static final DotName VISITABLE_BUILDER = DotName.createSimple(VisitableBuilder.class.getName());
+    private static final DotName VALIDATION_SCHEMA = DotName.createSimple(ValidationSchema.class.getName());
+    private static final DotName KUBE_SCHEMA = DotName.createSimple(KubeSchema.class.getName());
     private static final DotName CUSTOM_RESOURCE = DotName.createSimple(CustomResource.class.getName());
-    private static final String SERVICE_ACCOUNT = "ServiceAccount";
 
-    private static final DotName JSON_FORMAT = DotName.createSimple(JsonFormat.class.getName());
     private static final String[] EMPTY_STRINGS_ARRAY = new String[0];
 
     @BuildStep
@@ -159,31 +153,22 @@ public void process(ApplicationIndexBuildItem applicationIndex, CombinedIndexBui
         Collection<ClassInfo> visitableBuilderImpls = fullIndex.getAllKnownImplementors(VISITABLE_BUILDER);
 
         // default sizes determined experimentally - these are only set in order to prevent continuous expansion of the array list
-        List<String> withoutFieldsRegistration = new ArrayList<>(
-                kubernetesResourceImpls.size() + kubernetesResourceListImpls.size());
-        List<String> withFieldsRegistration = new ArrayList<>(2);
-        List<DotName> ignoreJsonDeserialization = new ArrayList<>(
-                kubernetesResourceImpls.size() + kubernetesResourceListImpls.size());
+        int defSize = kubernetesResourceImpls.size() + kubernetesResourceListImpls.size() + visitableBuilderImpls.size();
+        List<String> withFieldsRegistration = new ArrayList<>(defSize);
+        List<DotName> ignoreJsonDeserialization = new ArrayList<>(defSize);
 
         populateReflectionRegistrationLists(kubernetesResourceImpls, watchedClasses, ignoreJsonDeserialization,
-                withoutFieldsRegistration,
                 withFieldsRegistration);
         populateReflectionRegistrationLists(kubernetesResourceListImpls, watchedClasses, ignoreJsonDeserialization,
-                withoutFieldsRegistration,
                 withFieldsRegistration);
         populateReflectionRegistrationLists(visitableBuilderImpls, watchedClasses, ignoreJsonDeserialization,
-                withoutFieldsRegistration,
                 withFieldsRegistration);
 
         if (!withFieldsRegistration.isEmpty()) {
-            reflectiveClasses.produce(ReflectiveClassBuildItem
-                    .builder(withFieldsRegistration.toArray(EMPTY_STRINGS_ARRAY)).weak(true).methods().fields()
-                    .build());
-        }
-        if (!withoutFieldsRegistration.isEmpty()) {
-            reflectiveClasses.produce(ReflectiveClassBuildItem
-                    .builder(withoutFieldsRegistration.toArray(EMPTY_STRINGS_ARRAY)).weak(true).methods()
-                    .build());
+          reflectiveClasses.produce(ReflectiveClassBuildItem
+              .builder(withFieldsRegistration.toArray(EMPTY_STRINGS_ARRAY))
+              .weak().methods().fields()
+              .build());
         }
 
         ignoredJsonDeserializationClasses.produce(new IgnoreJsonDeserializeClassBuildItem(ignoreJsonDeserialization));
@@ -233,9 +218,8 @@ public void process(ApplicationIndexBuildItem applicationIndex, CombinedIndexBui
                     .sorted()
                     .collect(Collectors.joining("\n"));
             log.debugv("Watched Classes:\n{0}", watchedClassNames);
-            List<String> modelClasses = new ArrayList<>(withFieldsRegistration.size() + withoutFieldsRegistration.size());
+            List<String> modelClasses = new ArrayList<>(withFieldsRegistration.size());
             modelClasses.addAll(withFieldsRegistration);
-            modelClasses.addAll(withoutFieldsRegistration);
             Collections.sort(modelClasses);
             log.debugv("Model Classes:\n{0}", String.join("\n", modelClasses));
         }
@@ -254,35 +238,15 @@ public void process(ApplicationIndexBuildItem applicationIndex, CombinedIndexBui
     private static void populateReflectionRegistrationLists(Collection<ClassInfo> kubernetesResourceImpls,
             Set<DotName> watchedClasses,
             List<DotName> ignoredJsonDeserializationClasses,
-            List<String> withoutFieldsRegistration,
             List<String> withFieldsRegistration) {
-        kubernetesResourceImpls
-                .stream()
-                .peek(c -> {
-                    // we need to make sure that the Jackson extension does not try to fully register the model classes
-                    // since we are going to register them weakly
-                    ignoredJsonDeserializationClasses.add(c.name());
-                })
-                .filter(c -> !watchedClasses.contains(c.name()))
-                .map(c -> {
-                    boolean registerFields = false;
-                    List<AnnotationInstance> jsonFormatInstances = c.annotationsMap().get(JSON_FORMAT);
-                    if (jsonFormatInstances != null) {
-                        for (AnnotationInstance jsonFormatInstance : jsonFormatInstances) {
-                            if (jsonFormatInstance.target().kind() == AnnotationTarget.Kind.FIELD) {
-                                registerFields = true;
-                                break;
-                            }
-                        }
-                    }
-                    return new AbstractMap.SimpleEntry<>(c.name(), registerFields);
-                }).forEach(e -> {
-                    if (e.getValue()) {
-                        withFieldsRegistration.add(e.getKey().toString());
-                    } else {
-                        withoutFieldsRegistration.add(e.getKey().toString());
-                    }
-                });
+        for (ClassInfo resource : kubernetesResourceImpls) {
+            // we need to make sure that the Jackson extension does not try to fully
+            // register the model classes since we are going to register them weakly
+            ignoredJsonDeserializationClasses.add(resource.name());
+            if (!watchedClasses.contains(resource.name())) {
+                withFieldsRegistration.add(resource.name().toString());
+            }
+        }
     }
 
     private void findWatchedClasses(final DotName implementedOrExtendedClass,