diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d902e9a99f..0e9db2e82d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
   - A `sentry-trace` header that only contains trace ID and span ID but no sampled flag (`-1`, `-0` suffix) means the receiving system can make its own sampling decision
   - When generating `sentry-trace` header from `PropagationContext` we now copy the `sampled` flag.
   - In `TransactionContext.fromPropagationContext` when there is no parent sampling decision, keep the decision `null` so a new sampling decision is made instead of defaulting to `false`
+- Defer sampling decision by setting `sampled` to `null` in `PropagationContext` when using OpenTelemetry in case of an incoming defer sampling `sentry-trace` header. ([#3945](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-java/pull/3945))
 
 ## 8.0.0-rc.1
 
diff --git a/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-core/api/sentry-opentelemetry-core.api b/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-core/api/sentry-opentelemetry-core.api
index 60e2010e6c..fd2099a730 100644
--- a/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-core/api/sentry-opentelemetry-core.api
+++ b/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-core/api/sentry-opentelemetry-core.api
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ public final class io/sentry/opentelemetry/OtelInternalSpanDetectionUtil {
 public final class io/sentry/opentelemetry/OtelSamplingUtil {
 	public fun <init> ()V
 	public static fun extractSamplingDecision (Lio/opentelemetry/api/common/Attributes;)Lio/sentry/TracesSamplingDecision;
-	public static fun extractSamplingDecisionOrDefault (Lio/opentelemetry/api/common/Attributes;)Lio/sentry/TracesSamplingDecision;
 }
 
 public final class io/sentry/opentelemetry/OtelSentryPropagator : io/opentelemetry/context/propagation/TextMapPropagator {
diff --git a/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/OtelSamplingUtil.java b/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/OtelSamplingUtil.java
index 45a8922741..01f414f902 100644
--- a/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/OtelSamplingUtil.java
+++ b/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/OtelSamplingUtil.java
@@ -9,16 +9,6 @@
 @ApiStatus.Internal
 public final class OtelSamplingUtil {
 
-  public static @NotNull TracesSamplingDecision extractSamplingDecisionOrDefault(
-      final @NotNull Attributes attributes) {
-    final @Nullable TracesSamplingDecision decision = extractSamplingDecision(attributes);
-    if (decision != null) {
-      return decision;
-    } else {
-      return new TracesSamplingDecision(false);
-    }
-  }
-
   public static @Nullable TracesSamplingDecision extractSamplingDecision(
       final @NotNull Attributes attributes) {
     final @Nullable Boolean sampled = attributes.get(InternalSemanticAttributes.SAMPLED);
diff --git a/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/OtelSentrySpanProcessor.java b/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/OtelSentrySpanProcessor.java
index 569067a856..27149d821f 100644
--- a/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/OtelSentrySpanProcessor.java
+++ b/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/OtelSentrySpanProcessor.java
@@ -49,9 +49,9 @@ public void onStart(final @NotNull Context parentContext, final @NotNull ReadWri
 
     final @Nullable IOtelSpanWrapper sentryParentSpan =
         spanStorage.getSentrySpan(otelSpan.getParentSpanContext());
-    @NotNull
+    @Nullable
     TracesSamplingDecision samplingDecision =
-        OtelSamplingUtil.extractSamplingDecisionOrDefault(otelSpan.toSpanData().getAttributes());
+        OtelSamplingUtil.extractSamplingDecision(otelSpan.toSpanData().getAttributes());
     @Nullable Baggage baggage = null;
     @Nullable SpanId sentryParentSpanId = null;
     otelSpan.setAttribute(IS_REMOTE_PARENT, otelSpan.getParentSpanContext().isRemote());
@@ -81,10 +81,7 @@ public void onStart(final @NotNull Context parentContext, final @NotNull ReadWri
         }
       }
 
-      final boolean sampled =
-          samplingDecision != null
-              ? samplingDecision.getSampled()
-              : otelSpan.getSpanContext().isSampled();
+      final @Nullable Boolean sampled = isSampled(otelSpan, samplingDecision);
 
       final @NotNull PropagationContext propagationContext =
           sentryTraceHeader == null
@@ -111,6 +108,21 @@ public void onStart(final @NotNull Context parentContext, final @NotNull ReadWri
     spanStorage.storeSentrySpan(spanContext, sentrySpan);
   }
 
+  private @Nullable Boolean isSampled(
+      final @NotNull ReadWriteSpan otelSpan,
+      final @Nullable TracesSamplingDecision samplingDecision) {
+    if (samplingDecision != null) {
+      return samplingDecision.getSampled();
+    }
+
+    if (otelSpan.getSpanContext().isSampled()) {
+      return true;
+    }
+
+    // tracing without performance
+    return null;
+  }
+
   private static void updatePropagationContext(
       IScopes scopes, PropagationContext propagationContext) {
     scopes.configureScope(