diff --git a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/sql/results/graph/entity/internal/EntityInitializerImpl.java b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/sql/results/graph/entity/internal/EntityInitializerImpl.java
index d9610b4f03b4..a62e65fd1097 100644
--- a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/sql/results/graph/entity/internal/EntityInitializerImpl.java
+++ b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/sql/results/graph/entity/internal/EntityInitializerImpl.java
@@ -625,6 +625,10 @@ protected void resolveInstanceSubInitializers(EntityInitializerData data) {
 		final EntityEntry entityEntry = data.entityHolder.getEntityEntry();
 		final Initializer<?>[] initializers;
 		final ImmutableBitSet maybeLazySet;
+		if ( entityEntry == null ) {
+			assert data.entityHolder.getEntityInitializer() != null && data.entityHolder.getProxy() != null;
+			return;
+		}
 		if ( data.entityHolder.getEntityInitializer() == this ) {
 			// When a previous row initialized this entity already, we only need to process collections
 			initializers = collectionContainingSubInitializers[subclassId];