In some implementations, a device may transmit a buffer monitoring request message, wherein the buffer monitoring request message indicates a threshold time. The device may receive a buffer monitoring response message, wherein the buffer monitoring response message indicates one or more data radio bearers (DRBs) having buffers that exceed a data threshold for a time longer than the threshold time, and wherein the buffer monitoring response message indicates respective buffer sizes. The device may receive a measurement report of a user equipment (UE) associated with a buffer size among the respective buffer sizes, wherein the measurement report is associated with secondary node (SN) candidates. The device may establish, based on the measurement report, a New Radio dual connectivity (NR-DC) for the UE by adding an SN from the SN candidates.