diff --git a/cmake/kokkos_backends.cmake b/cmake/kokkos_backends.cmake
index 9346475f91..a90ad69bf0 100644
--- a/cmake/kokkos_backends.cmake
+++ b/cmake/kokkos_backends.cmake
@@ -16,9 +16,3 @@ CHECK_KOKKOS_BACKEND(OPENMPTARGET)
 CHECK_KOKKOS_BACKEND(CUDA)
 CHECK_KOKKOS_BACKEND(HIP)
 CHECK_KOKKOS_BACKEND(SYCL)
-
-# for backward compatibility.  can be dropped when requiring Kokkos 3.6
-IF (Kokkos_ENABLE_PTHREAD)
-  SET(KOKKOS_ENABLE_THREADS ON)
-  SET(KOKKOSKERNELS_INST_EXECSPACE_THREADS_DEFAULT ON)
-ENDIF()
diff --git a/common/src/KokkosKernels_default_types.hpp b/common/src/KokkosKernels_default_types.hpp
index 9210264b61..672bdf3fbb 100644
--- a/common/src/KokkosKernels_default_types.hpp
+++ b/common/src/KokkosKernels_default_types.hpp
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ using default_device    = Kokkos::Experimental::HIP;
 using default_device    = Kokkos::Experimental::OpenMPTarget;
 #elif defined(KOKKOS_ENABLE_OPENMP)
 using default_device = Kokkos::OpenMP;
-#elif defined(KOKKOS_ENABLE_PTHREAD) || defined(KOKKOS_ENABLE_THREADS)
+#elif defined(KOKKOS_ENABLE_THREADS)
 using default_device = Kokkos::Threads;
 #else
 using default_device = Kokkos::Serial;