diff --git a/pkg/controller/controller.go b/pkg/controller/controller.go
index 667d9ba95..03bc2911c 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/controller.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/controller.go
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ import (
 type Controller struct {
 	config    spec.ControllerConfig
 	opConfig  *config.Config
-	pgTeamMap *teams.PostgresTeamMap
+	pgTeamMap teams.PostgresTeamMap
 
 	logger     *logrus.Entry
 	KubeClient k8sutil.KubernetesClient
diff --git a/pkg/controller/util.go b/pkg/controller/util.go
index ed770935c..8c8fcf223 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/util.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/util.go
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import (
 	acidv1 "github.com/zalando/postgres-operator/pkg/apis/acid.zalan.do/v1"
 	"github.com/zalando/postgres-operator/pkg/cluster"
 	"github.com/zalando/postgres-operator/pkg/spec"
+	"github.com/zalando/postgres-operator/pkg/teams"
 	"github.com/zalando/postgres-operator/pkg/util"
 	"github.com/zalando/postgres-operator/pkg/util/config"
 	"github.com/zalando/postgres-operator/pkg/util/k8sutil"
@@ -30,7 +31,7 @@ func (c *Controller) makeClusterConfig() cluster.Config {
 	return cluster.Config{
 		RestConfig:          c.config.RestConfig,
 		OpConfig:            config.Copy(c.opConfig),
-		PgTeamMap:           c.pgTeamMap,
+		PgTeamMap:           &c.pgTeamMap,
 		InfrastructureRoles: infrastructureRoles,
 		PodServiceAccount:   c.PodServiceAccount,
 	}
@@ -395,7 +396,7 @@ func (c *Controller) getInfrastructureRole(
 
 func (c *Controller) loadPostgresTeams() {
 	// reset team map
-	c.pgTeamMap.Reset()
+	c.pgTeamMap = teams.PostgresTeamMap{}
 
 	pgTeams, err := c.KubeClient.PostgresTeamsGetter.PostgresTeams(c.opConfig.WatchedNamespace).List(context.TODO(), metav1.ListOptions{})
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/pkg/teams/postgres_team.go b/pkg/teams/postgres_team.go
index 0f835862b..21d3f7656 100644
--- a/pkg/teams/postgres_team.go
+++ b/pkg/teams/postgres_team.go
@@ -125,7 +125,5 @@ func (ptm *PostgresTeamMap) Load(pgTeams *acidv1.PostgresTeamList) {
 
 // Reset a PostgresTeamMap
 func (ptm *PostgresTeamMap) Reset() {
-	if ptm != nil {
-		*ptm = emptyTeamMap
-	}
+	*ptm = emptyTeamMap
 }