Wireless communications systems and methods related to a handover mechanism for restraining ping-pong handover in new radio cells are provided. A user equipment (UE) obtains signal measurements of a plurality of downlink specific reference signals from a base station (BS) and one or more neighbor cells. The UE detects an occurrence of a specified measurement event based on a comparison of the signal measurements between the BS and the one or more neighbor cells using a first signal measurement offset or a second signal measurement offset different from the first signal measurement offset. The UE communicates, with the BS in a first subband of a plurality of subbands, a measurement report comprising indication of the occurrence of the specified measurement event for initiating a handover of the UE between the BS and the one or more neighbor cells.