diff --git a/src/KOKKOS/kokkos.cpp b/src/KOKKOS/kokkos.cpp
index 0dbb1754a0340f0602ab401b5dc100c83aab27fd..57dd6df1c38e892e1a7590ee7f16403c062c257c 100644
--- a/src/KOKKOS/kokkos.cpp
+++ b/src/KOKKOS/kokkos.cpp
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ void KokkosLMP::accelerator(int narg, char **arg)
       else if (strcmp(arg[iarg+1],"n2") == 0) neighflag = N2;
       else if (strcmp(arg[iarg+1],"full/cluster") == 0) neighflag = FULLCLUSTER;
       else error->all(FLERR,"Illegal package kokkos command");
-      if (neighflag = HALF && num_threads == 0 || ngpu == 0)
+      if (neighflag == HALF && num_threads > 1 || ngpu > 0)
         error->all(FLERR,"Must use Kokkos half/thread or full neighbor list with threads or GPU");
       iarg += 2;
     } else if (strcmp(arg[iarg],"binsize") == 0) {