diff --git a/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/clustering/DistanceMeasure.scala b/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/clustering/DistanceMeasure.scala
index 9ac473aabece..e4c29a789b52 100644
--- a/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/clustering/DistanceMeasure.scala
+++ b/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/clustering/DistanceMeasure.scala
@@ -117,6 +117,24 @@ private[spark] abstract class DistanceMeasure extends Serializable {
     packedValues
   }
 
+  /**
+   * @param centers the clustering centers
+   * @param statistics optional statistics to accelerate the computation, which should not
+   *                   change the result.
+   * @param point given point
+   * @return the index of the closest center to the given point, as well as the cost.
+   */
+  def findClosest(
+      centers: Array[VectorWithNorm],
+      statistics: Option[Array[Double]],
+      point: VectorWithNorm): (Int, Double) = {
+    if (statistics.nonEmpty) {
+      findClosest(centers, statistics.get, point)
+    } else {
+      findClosest(centers, point)
+    }
+  }
+
   /**
    * @return the index of the closest center to the given point, as well as the cost.
    */
@@ -253,6 +271,11 @@ object DistanceMeasure {
       case _ => false
     }
   }
+
+  private[clustering] def shouldComputeStatistics(k: Int): Boolean = k < 1000
+
+  private[clustering] def shouldComputeStatisticsLocally(k: Int, numFeatures: Int): Boolean =
+    k.toLong * k * numFeatures < 1000000
 }
 
 private[spark] class EuclideanDistanceMeasure extends DistanceMeasure {
diff --git a/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/clustering/KMeans.scala b/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/clustering/KMeans.scala
index 76e2928f1223..c140b1b9e091 100644
--- a/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/clustering/KMeans.scala
+++ b/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/clustering/KMeans.scala
@@ -269,15 +269,22 @@ class KMeans private (
 
     instr.foreach(_.logNumFeatures(numFeatures))
 
-    val shouldDistributed = centers.length * centers.length * numFeatures.toLong > 1000000L
+    val shouldComputeStats =
+      DistanceMeasure.shouldComputeStatistics(centers.length)
+    val shouldComputeStatsLocally =
+      DistanceMeasure.shouldComputeStatisticsLocally(centers.length, numFeatures)
 
     // Execute iterations of Lloyd's algorithm until converged
     while (iteration < maxIterations && !converged) {
       val bcCenters = sc.broadcast(centers)
-      val stats = if (shouldDistributed) {
-        distanceMeasureInstance.computeStatisticsDistributedly(sc, bcCenters)
+      val stats = if (shouldComputeStats) {
+        if (shouldComputeStatsLocally) {
+          Some(distanceMeasureInstance.computeStatistics(centers))
+        } else {
+          Some(distanceMeasureInstance.computeStatisticsDistributedly(sc, bcCenters))
+        }
       } else {
-        distanceMeasureInstance.computeStatistics(centers)
+        None
       }
       val bcStats = sc.broadcast(stats)
 
diff --git a/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/clustering/KMeansModel.scala b/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/clustering/KMeansModel.scala
index a24493bb7a8f..64b352157caf 100644
--- a/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/clustering/KMeansModel.scala
+++ b/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/clustering/KMeansModel.scala
@@ -50,9 +50,16 @@ class KMeansModel (@Since("1.0.0") val clusterCenters: Array[Vector],
 
   // TODO: computation of statistics may take seconds, so save it to KMeansModel in training
   @transient private lazy val statistics = if (clusterCenters == null) {
-    null
+    None
   } else {
-    distanceMeasureInstance.computeStatistics(clusterCentersWithNorm)
+    val k = clusterCenters.length
+    val numFeatures = clusterCenters.head.size
+    if (DistanceMeasure.shouldComputeStatistics(k) &&
+        DistanceMeasure.shouldComputeStatisticsLocally(k, numFeatures)) {
+      Some(distanceMeasureInstance.computeStatistics(clusterCentersWithNorm))
+    } else {
+      None
+    }
   }
 
   @Since("2.4.0")