diff --git a/mlir/lib/Dialect/SparseTensor/Utils/Merger.cpp b/mlir/lib/Dialect/SparseTensor/Utils/Merger.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/Dialect/SparseTensor/Utils/Merger.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Dialect/SparseTensor/Utils/Merger.cpp
@@ -454,6 +454,7 @@
 
 bool Merger::expContainsTensor(ExprId e, TensorId t) const {
   const auto &expr = exp(e);
+  // First we check `expIsTensor`.
   if (expr.kind == TensorExp::Kind::kTensor)
     return expr.tensor == t;
 
@@ -462,15 +463,11 @@
     return false;
   case ExpArity::kUnary: {
     const ExprId e0 = expr.children.e0;
-    if (expIsTensor(e0, t))
-      return true;
     return expContainsTensor(e0, t);
   }
   case ExpArity::kBinary: {
     const ExprId e0 = expr.children.e0;
     const ExprId e1 = expr.children.e1;
-    if (expIsTensor(e0, t) || expIsTensor(e1, t))
-      return true;
     return expContainsTensor(e0, t) || expContainsTensor(e1, t);
   }
   }