A user equipment (UE), a baseband processor or other network device can operate in a new radio (NR) unlicensed network can operate to communicate in a UE to UE (U2U) relay path through a first relay UE with another UE as a source or destination UE according to a direct communication request initiating from the source UE. The UE can further perform a U2U relay reselection to a second relay UE in response to a trigger condition, either as a source UE or a destination UE.