diff --git a/sjsonnet/src/sjsonnet/Evaluator.scala b/sjsonnet/src/sjsonnet/Evaluator.scala
index bb7632df..b5dcfe07 100644
--- a/sjsonnet/src/sjsonnet/Evaluator.scala
+++ b/sjsonnet/src/sjsonnet/Evaluator.scala
@@ -223,8 +223,9 @@ class Evaluator(
       val idx = v.nameIdx
       if (idx < scope.length) {
         val binding = scope.bindings(idx)
-        if (binding != null) binding.value match {
+        if (binding != null) binding match {
           case n: Val.Num => n.rawDouble
+          case _: Val     => Double.NaN
           case _          => Double.NaN
         }
         else Double.NaN
diff --git a/sjsonnet/test/resources/new_test_suite/tryEagerEval_lazy_thunks.jsonnet b/sjsonnet/test/resources/new_test_suite/tryEagerEval_lazy_thunks.jsonnet
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1336ac49
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sjsonnet/test/resources/new_test_suite/tryEagerEval_lazy_thunks.jsonnet
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+// Test that tryEagerEval preserves lazy semantics: unused local bindings with side effects
+// should not be forced. This matches go-jsonnet and jrsonnet behavior.
+std.assertEqual(
+  (local a = error "should not be evaluated"; local b = a + 1; if false then b else 0),
+  0
+)
diff --git a/sjsonnet/test/resources/new_test_suite/tryEagerEval_lazy_thunks.jsonnet.golden b/sjsonnet/test/resources/new_test_suite/tryEagerEval_lazy_thunks.jsonnet.golden
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..27ba77dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sjsonnet/test/resources/new_test_suite/tryEagerEval_lazy_thunks.jsonnet.golden
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+true