diff --git a/internal/controller/proxy/models.go b/internal/controller/proxy/models.go
index 497bab9..0300831 100644
--- a/internal/controller/proxy/models.go
+++ b/internal/controller/proxy/models.go
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ func (p *Proxy) setModelCache() error {
 				for _, sm := range k.SupportModelsArray {
 					models[sm] = true
 				}
-			} else {
+			} else if k.SupportModels != nil {
 				var sma []string
 				json.Unmarshal([]byte(*k.SupportModels), &sma) // nolint:errCheck
 				for _, sm := range sma {