diff --git a/src/caffeine/prif_private_s.F90 b/src/caffeine/prif_private_s.F90
index 7862c3db..79fb2466 100644
--- a/src/caffeine/prif_private_s.F90
+++ b/src/caffeine/prif_private_s.F90
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 ! Copyright (c), The Regents of the University of California
 ! Terms of use are as specified in LICENSE.txt
+
+#include "assert_macros.h"
+
 submodule(prif) prif_private_s
   use assert_m
   implicit none
@@ -246,11 +249,7 @@ subroutine base_pointer(coarray_handle, image_num, ptr)
 
     integer(c_int) :: num_img
 
-    ! TODO TEAMS: either move the assertion below into `caf_convert_base_addr()`
-    ! (avoiding the need to call prif_num_images here to fetch initial team size)
-    ! or cache the initial team size in a private module variable so we can just access it (issue #62)
-    call prif_num_images(num_images=num_img)
-    call assert(image_num > 0 .and. image_num <= num_img, "base_pointer: image_num not within valid range")
+    call_assert_describe(image_num > 0 .and. image_num <= initial_team%num_images, "base_pointer: image_num not within valid range")
     ptr = caf_convert_base_addr(coarray_handle%info%coarray_data, image_num)
   end subroutine