diff --git a/connector/kafka-0-10-sql/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/kafka010/KafkaMicroBatchStream.scala b/connector/kafka-0-10-sql/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/kafka010/KafkaMicroBatchStream.scala
index 828891f0b4983..17323165b451f 100644
--- a/connector/kafka-0-10-sql/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/kafka010/KafkaMicroBatchStream.scala
+++ b/connector/kafka-0-10-sql/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/kafka010/KafkaMicroBatchStream.scala
@@ -357,7 +357,7 @@ private[kafka010] class KafkaMicroBatchStream(
           }
         }
       } else {
-        Some(latestPartitionOffsets)
+        Option(latestPartitionOffsets)
       }
 
       KafkaMicroBatchStream.metrics(latestConsumedOffset, reCalculatedLatestPartitionOffsets)
diff --git a/connector/kafka-0-10-sql/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/kafka010/KafkaMicroBatchSourceSuite.scala b/connector/kafka-0-10-sql/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/kafka010/KafkaMicroBatchSourceSuite.scala
index e6a794c22e1f2..274be623da6fa 100644
--- a/connector/kafka-0-10-sql/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/kafka010/KafkaMicroBatchSourceSuite.scala
+++ b/connector/kafka-0-10-sql/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/kafka010/KafkaMicroBatchSourceSuite.scala
@@ -1883,6 +1883,32 @@ abstract class KafkaMicroBatchV2SourceSuite extends KafkaMicroBatchSourceSuiteBa
     // test null latestAvailablePartitionOffsets
     assert(KafkaMicroBatchStream.metrics(Optional.ofNullable(offset), None).isEmpty)
   }
+
+  test("SPARK-57438: metrics should not NPE when latestPartitionOffsets is null") {
+    // Construct a KafkaMicroBatchStream instance without calling latestOffset(),
+    // so latestPartitionOffsets remains null (its default uninitialized value).
+    // Calling metrics() on this instance exercises the real non-RTM code path.
+    val topic = newTopic()
+    val tp = new TopicPartition(topic, 0)
+
+    SparkSession.setActiveSession(spark)
+    withTempDir { dir =>
+      val provider = new KafkaSourceProvider()
+      val options = Map(
+        "kafka.bootstrap.servers" -> testUtils.brokerAddress,
+        "subscribe" -> topic
+      )
+      val dsOptions = new CaseInsensitiveStringMap(options.asJava)
+      val table = provider.getTable(dsOptions)
+      val stream = table.newScanBuilder(dsOptions).build().toMicroBatchStream(dir.getAbsolutePath)
+        .asInstanceOf[KafkaMicroBatchStream]
+
+      // latestPartitionOffsets is still null - metrics() must not NPE
+      val offset = KafkaSourceOffset(Map(tp -> 0L))
+      val result = stream.metrics(Optional.of(offset))
+      assert(result.isEmpty)
+    }
+  }
 }
 
 class KafkaMicroBatchV1SourceWithAdminSuite extends KafkaMicroBatchV1SourceSuite {