diff --git a/pkg/sidecar/proxy/chat_completions.go b/pkg/sidecar/proxy/chat_completions.go
index eb08bf1237..1c367b9d28 100644
--- a/pkg/sidecar/proxy/chat_completions.go
+++ b/pkg/sidecar/proxy/chat_completions.go
@@ -54,9 +54,14 @@ func (s *Server) chatCompletionsHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request)
 	ctx = context.WithValue(ctx, requestStartTimeKey, requestStart)
 	r = r.WithContext(ctx)
 
+	// Set span attributes with safe defaults for nil values
+	requestPath := ""
+	if r.URL != nil {
+		requestPath = r.URL.Path
+	}
 	span.SetAttributes(
 		attribute.String("llm_d.pd_proxy.connector", s.config.Connector),
-		attribute.String("llm_d.pd_proxy.request_path", r.URL.Path),
+		attribute.String("llm_d.pd_proxy.request_path", requestPath),
 	)
 
 	var prefillHostPorts []string
diff --git a/pkg/sidecar/proxy/proxy_helpers.go b/pkg/sidecar/proxy/proxy_helpers.go
index 9a67df213f..8be0623636 100644
--- a/pkg/sidecar/proxy/proxy_helpers.go
+++ b/pkg/sidecar/proxy/proxy_helpers.go
@@ -32,7 +32,11 @@ func (s *Server) startHTTP(ctx context.Context, cert *tls.Certificate) error {
 	// Wrap handler with OpenTelemetry middleware to extract trace context from incoming requests
 	handler := otelhttp.NewHandler(s.handler, "llm-d-pd-proxy",
 		otelhttp.WithSpanNameFormatter(func(_ string, r *http.Request) string {
-			return "llm_d.pd_proxy." + r.Method + " " + r.URL.Path
+			path := ""
+			if r.URL != nil {
+				path = r.URL.Path
+			}
+			return "llm_d.pd_proxy." + r.Method + " " + path
 		}),
 	)