diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 5a12109fdc..a45b6dce5d 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 4.0.12
+ * Fix NTS log message when an unrecognized strategy option is passed (CASSANDRA-18679)
  * Fix BulkLoader ignoring cipher suites options (CASSANDRA-18582)
  * Migrate Python optparse to argparse (CASSANDRA-17914)
 Merged from 3.11:
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/locator/NetworkTopologyStrategy.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/locator/NetworkTopologyStrategy.java
index 2b4a0eaab8..75aade85af 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/locator/NetworkTopologyStrategy.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/locator/NetworkTopologyStrategy.java
@@ -86,7 +86,6 @@ public class NetworkTopologyStrategy extends AbstractReplicationStrategy
 
         datacenters = Collections.unmodifiableMap(newDatacenters);
         aggregateRf = ReplicationFactor.withTransient(replicas, trans);
-        logger.info("Configured datacenter replicas are {}", FBUtilities.toString(datacenters));
     }
 
     /**
@@ -302,6 +301,7 @@ public class NetworkTopologyStrategy extends AbstractReplicationStrategy
 
         // Validate the data center names
         super.validateExpectedOptions();
+        logger.info("Configured datacenter replicas are {}", FBUtilities.toString(datacenters));
     }
 
     @Override