diff --git a/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/collections/trie/BytesTrieSet.java b/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/collections/trie/BytesTrieSet.java
index 6c3c17f2566..20e2d49af5c 100644
--- a/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/collections/trie/BytesTrieSet.java
+++ b/evm/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/besu/collections/trie/BytesTrieSet.java
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ public int size() {
   public boolean contains(final Object o) {
     if (!(o instanceof Bytes bytes)) {
       throw new IllegalArgumentException(
-          "Expected Bytes, got " + o == null ? "null" : o.getClass().getName());
+          "Expected Bytes, got " + (o == null ? "null" : o.getClass().getName()));
     }
     byte[] array = bytes.toArrayUnsafe();
     if (array.length != byteLength) {
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ public boolean remove(final Object o) {
     // Two base cases, size==0 and size==1;
     if (!(o instanceof Bytes bytes)) {
       throw new IllegalArgumentException(
-          "Expected Bytes, got " + o == null ? "null" : o.getClass().getName());
+          "Expected Bytes, got " + (o == null ? "null" : o.getClass().getName()));
     }
     byte[] array = bytes.toArrayUnsafe();
     if (array.length != byteLength) {