Techniques for efficient connected mode measurements in a new radio wireless communication system

A method and apparatus for efficiently performing measurements during a connected mode in a wireless communication system is disclosed. For example, the method and apparatus may include receiving, at a user equipment (UE), a Radio Resource Control (RRC) Reconfiguration message including a plurality of measurement objects from a network entity to identify frequencies during a measurement procedure; receiving, at the UE, one or more neighbor discovery expression messages, each neighbor discovery expression message including a neighbor measurement object and being received from a respective neighbor UE; determining, by the UE, whether the plurality of measurement objects of the RRC Reconfiguration message satisfy a measurement capability threshold; selecting, by the UE, a portion of the plurality of measurement objects of the RRC Reconfiguration message; and performing, by the UE, the measurement procedure for each measurement object of the portion of the plurality of measurement objects.