diff --git a/spark/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/delta/DeltaConfig.scala b/spark/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/delta/DeltaConfig.scala
index cc0206e486..6e45d18791 100644
--- a/spark/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/delta/DeltaConfig.scala
+++ b/spark/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/delta/DeltaConfig.scala
@@ -535,7 +535,9 @@ trait DeltaConfigsBase extends DeltaLogging {
    * (e.g., in append and OPTIMIZE) as well as data skipping (e.g., the column stats beyond this
    * number will be ignored even when they exist).
    */
-  val DATA_SKIPPING_NUM_INDEXED_COLS = buildConfig[Int](
+  lazy val DATA_SKIPPING_NUM_INDEXED_COLS = buildConfig[Int](
+    // It involves loading additional context in DataSkippingReader so
+    // delay its initialization as much as possible
     "dataSkippingNumIndexedCols",
     DataSkippingReader.DATA_SKIPPING_NUM_INDEXED_COLS_DEFAULT_VALUE.toString,
     _.toInt,