diff --git a/sentry-okhttp/src/test/java/io/sentry/okhttp/SentryOkHttpEventTest.kt b/sentry-okhttp/src/test/java/io/sentry/okhttp/SentryOkHttpEventTest.kt
index 4d9f005143..e5fb580b15 100644
--- a/sentry-okhttp/src/test/java/io/sentry/okhttp/SentryOkHttpEventTest.kt
+++ b/sentry-okhttp/src/test/java/io/sentry/okhttp/SentryOkHttpEventTest.kt
@@ -67,7 +67,6 @@ class SentryOkHttpEventTest {
                 TransactionContext("name", "op", TracesSamplingDecision(true)),
                 SentryTracer(TransactionContext("name", "op", TracesSamplingDecision(true)), scopes),
                 scopes,
-                null,
                 SpanOptions()
             )
 
diff --git a/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/SentrySampler.java b/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/SentrySampler.java
index f4b6233487..2ae611044b 100644
--- a/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/SentrySampler.java
+++ b/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/SentrySampler.java
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ public SamplingResult shouldSample(
       final @NotNull SpanKind spanKind,
       final @NotNull Attributes attributes,
       final @NotNull List<LinkData> parentLinks) {
+    // TODO [POTEL] use SamplingDecision.DROP sentry internal spans
     // note: parentLinks seems to usually be empty
     final @Nullable Span parentOtelSpan = Span.fromContextOrNull(parentContext);
     final @Nullable OtelSpanWrapper parentSentrySpan =
@@ -65,6 +66,7 @@ public SamplingResult shouldSample(
   private @NotNull SamplingResult handleRootOtelSpan(
       final @NotNull String traceId, final @NotNull Context parentContext) {
     if (!options.isTraceSampling()) {
+      // TODO [POTEL] should this return RECORD_ONLY to allow tracing without performance
       return SamplingResult.create(SamplingDecision.DROP);
     }
     @Nullable Baggage baggage = null;
diff --git a/sentry/api/sentry.api b/sentry/api/sentry.api
index 632c4e06af..1950a393b6 100644
--- a/sentry/api/sentry.api
+++ b/sentry/api/sentry.api
@@ -3098,7 +3098,7 @@ public final class io/sentry/ShutdownHookIntegration : io/sentry/Integration, ja
 }
 
 public final class io/sentry/Span : io/sentry/ISpan {
-	public fun <init> (Lio/sentry/TransactionContext;Lio/sentry/SentryTracer;Lio/sentry/IScopes;Lio/sentry/SentryDate;Lio/sentry/SpanOptions;)V
+	public fun <init> (Lio/sentry/TransactionContext;Lio/sentry/SentryTracer;Lio/sentry/IScopes;Lio/sentry/SpanOptions;)V
 	public fun finish ()V
 	public fun finish (Lio/sentry/SpanStatus;)V
 	public fun finish (Lio/sentry/SpanStatus;Lio/sentry/SentryDate;)V
diff --git a/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/SentryTracer.java b/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/SentryTracer.java
index 5e4b154d7e..c32410c572 100644
--- a/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/SentryTracer.java
+++ b/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/SentryTracer.java
@@ -71,8 +71,7 @@ public SentryTracer(
     Objects.requireNonNull(context, "context is required");
     Objects.requireNonNull(scopes, "scopes are required");
 
-    this.root =
-        new Span(context, this, scopes, transactionOptions.getStartTimestamp(), transactionOptions);
+    this.root = new Span(context, this, scopes, transactionOptions);
 
     this.name = context.getName();
     this.instrumenter = context.getInstrumenter();
diff --git a/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/Span.java b/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/Span.java
index f0c905ad8f..36b3f89813 100644
--- a/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/Span.java
+++ b/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/Span.java
@@ -77,13 +77,13 @@ public Span(
       final @NotNull TransactionContext context,
       final @NotNull SentryTracer sentryTracer,
       final @NotNull IScopes scopes,
-      final @Nullable SentryDate startTimestamp,
       final @NotNull SpanOptions options) {
     this.context = Objects.requireNonNull(context, "context is required");
     this.context.setOrigin(options.getOrigin());
     this.transaction = Objects.requireNonNull(sentryTracer, "sentryTracer is required");
     this.scopes = Objects.requireNonNull(scopes, "scopes are required");
     this.spanFinishedCallback = null;
+    final @Nullable SentryDate startTimestamp = options.getStartTimestamp();
     if (startTimestamp != null) {
       this.startTimestamp = startTimestamp;
     } else {
diff --git a/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/SpanOptions.java b/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/SpanOptions.java
index 29ee134c1a..41ac313ae5 100644
--- a/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/SpanOptions.java
+++ b/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/SpanOptions.java
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ public class SpanOptions {
   /** The start timestamp of the transaction */
   private @Nullable SentryDate startTimestamp = null;
 
-  // TODO [POTEL] this should also work for non OTel spans
   /**
    * Gets the startTimestamp
    *
diff --git a/sentry/src/test/java/io/sentry/protocol/SentrySpanTest.kt b/sentry/src/test/java/io/sentry/protocol/SentrySpanTest.kt
index d67b0186be..504f5bcccc 100644
--- a/sentry/src/test/java/io/sentry/protocol/SentrySpanTest.kt
+++ b/sentry/src/test/java/io/sentry/protocol/SentrySpanTest.kt
@@ -20,8 +20,7 @@ class SentrySpanTest {
             TransactionContext("name", "op"),
             mock<SentryTracer>(),
             mock<IScopes>(),
-            SentryLongDate(1000000),
-            SpanOptions()
+            SpanOptions().also { it.startTimestamp = SentryLongDate(1000000) }
         )
 
         val sentrySpan = SentrySpan(span)
diff --git a/sentry/src/test/java/io/sentry/util/TracingUtilsTest.kt b/sentry/src/test/java/io/sentry/util/TracingUtilsTest.kt
index b3f640aeec..62e2ba0055 100644
--- a/sentry/src/test/java/io/sentry/util/TracingUtilsTest.kt
+++ b/sentry/src/test/java/io/sentry/util/TracingUtilsTest.kt
@@ -41,7 +41,6 @@ class TracingUtilsTest {
                 TransactionContext("name", "op", TracesSamplingDecision(true)),
                 SentryTracer(TransactionContext("name", "op", TracesSamplingDecision(true)), scopes),
                 scopes,
-                null,
                 SpanOptions()
             )
         }