diff --git a/distributed/shuffle/tests/test_merge.py b/distributed/shuffle/tests/test_merge.py
index 0eea6cb35d..f1e2c01cd3 100644
--- a/distributed/shuffle/tests/test_merge.py
+++ b/distributed/shuffle/tests/test_merge.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 try:
     import pyarrow as pa
 except ImportError:
-    pa = None  # type: ignore[assignment]
+    pa = None
 
 pytestmark = pytest.mark.ci1
 
diff --git a/distributed/shuffle/tests/test_shuffle.py b/distributed/shuffle/tests/test_shuffle.py
index 29e83bcb9c..b7f18865e5 100644
--- a/distributed/shuffle/tests/test_shuffle.py
+++ b/distributed/shuffle/tests/test_shuffle.py
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@
 try:
     import pyarrow as pa
 except ImportError:
-    pa = None  # type: ignore[assignment]
+    pa = None
 
 
 @pytest.fixture(params=[0, 0.3, 1], ids=["none", "some", "all"])