Disclosed in some examples are methods, systems, memory devices, and machine-readable mediums which increase read throughput by introducing a delay prior to issuing a command to increase the chances that read commands can be executed in parallel. Upon receipt of a read command, if there are no other read commands in the command queue for a given portion (e.g., plane or plane group) of the die, the controller can delay issuing the read command for a delay period using a timer. If, during the delay period, an eligible read command is received, the delayed command and the newly received command are both issued in parallel using a multi-plane read. If no eligible read command is received during the delay period, the read command is issued after the delay period expires.