diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/balancer/BaseLoadBalancer.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/balancer/BaseLoadBalancer.java
index e42ffd912efa..0cb114861c23 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/balancer/BaseLoadBalancer.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/balancer/BaseLoadBalancer.java
@@ -870,6 +870,9 @@ int[] removeRegion(int[] regions, int regionIndex) {
         if (regions[i] == regionIndex) {
           break;
         }
+        if (i == regions.length - 1) {
+            return Arrays.copyOf(regions, regions.length);
+        }
         newRegions[i] = regions[i];
       }
       System.arraycopy(regions, i+1, newRegions, i, newRegions.length - i);