Techniques for performing in-order data delivery during handover in a wireless communication system are described. A user equipment (UE) may perform handover from a source base station to a target base station. The target base station may start a timer after a data path from a gateway to the UE has been switched from the source base station to the target base station. The target base station may receive forwarded packets for the UE from the source base station and may receive new packets for the UE from the gateway. The target base station may send the forwarded packets received prior to expiration of the timer to the UE before any new packets. The target base station may send the forwarded packets to the UE without waiting for the timer to expire and may send the new packets to the UE after the timer expires.