diff --git a/connect/runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/storage/OffsetStorageReaderImpl.java b/connect/runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/storage/OffsetStorageReaderImpl.java
index a7f517f00046b..6fafc3de0092a 100644
--- a/connect/runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/storage/OffsetStorageReaderImpl.java
+++ b/connect/runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/storage/OffsetStorageReaderImpl.java
@@ -86,14 +86,18 @@ public <T> Map<Map<String, T>, Map<String, Object>> offsets(Collection<Map<Strin
         Map<ByteBuffer, ByteBuffer> raw;
         try {
             Future<Map<ByteBuffer, ByteBuffer>> offsetReadFuture;
+
+            // Note: this call can block for long time waiting for data flush to complete (`KafkaProducer.flush()`).
+            offsetReadFuture = backingStore.get(serializedToOriginal.keySet());
+
             synchronized (offsetReadFutures) {
                 if (closed.get()) {
+                    offsetReadFuture.cancel(true);
                     throw new ConnectException(
                         "Offset reader is closed. This is likely because the task has already been "
                             + "scheduled to stop but has taken longer than the graceful shutdown "
                             + "period to do so.");
                 }
-                offsetReadFuture = backingStore.get(serializedToOriginal.keySet());
                 offsetReadFutures.add(offsetReadFuture);
             }
 
diff --git a/connect/runtime/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/storage/OffsetStorageReaderTest.java b/connect/runtime/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/storage/OffsetStorageReaderTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..60c346ba36a4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/connect/runtime/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/storage/OffsetStorageReaderTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.kafka.connect.storage;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.mockito.Mock;
+import org.mockito.invocation.InvocationOnMock;
+import org.mockito.junit.MockitoJUnitRunner;
+import org.mockito.stubbing.Answer;
+
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture;
+import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
+import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
+
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.doAnswer;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+
+@RunWith(MockitoJUnitRunner.StrictStubs.class)
+public class OffsetStorageReaderTest {
+
+    @Mock
+    private Converter taskKeyConverter;
+
+    @Mock
+    private Converter taskValueConverter;
+
+    @Mock
+    private OffsetBackingStore offsetBackingStore;
+
+    @Test(timeout = 60 * 1000)
+    public void testClosingOffsetReaderWhenOffsetStoreHangs() throws Exception {
+        ExecutorService executor = Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor();
+        OffsetStorageReaderImpl offsetStorageReaderImpl = new OffsetStorageReaderImpl(
+                offsetBackingStore, "namespace", taskKeyConverter, taskValueConverter);
+
+        doAnswer(invocation -> {
+            // Sleep for a long time to simulate a hanging offset store
+            Thread.sleep(9999 * 1000);
+            throw new RuntimeException("Should never get here");
+        }).when(offsetBackingStore).get(any());
+
+        // Connector task thread hanging
+        executor.submit(() -> {
+            // Does call offsetBackingStore.get() and hangs
+            offsetStorageReaderImpl.offsets(Collections.emptyList());
+        });
+        Thread.sleep(3000);
+
+        verify(offsetBackingStore, times(1)).get(any());
+
+        // The herder thread should not block when trying to close `offsetStorageReaderImpl`
+        // and complete before test timeout
+        offsetStorageReaderImpl.close();
+    }
+
+    @Test(timeout = 60 * 1000)
+    public void testClosingOffsetReaderWhenOffsetStoreHangsAndHasIncompleteFutures() throws Exception {
+        // Test similar to `testClosingOffsetReaderWhenOffsetStoreHangs` above, but in this case
+        // `OffsetStorageReaderImpl.offsetReadFutures` contains a future when `offsetStorageReaderImpl.close()` is called.
+
+        ExecutorService executor = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(2);
+        CompletableFuture<?> hangingFuture = mock(CompletableFuture.class);
+
+        OffsetStorageReaderImpl offsetStorageReaderImpl = new OffsetStorageReaderImpl(
+                offsetBackingStore, "namespace", taskKeyConverter, taskValueConverter);
+
+        // Mock hanging future
+        doAnswer(invocation -> {
+            Thread.sleep(9999 * 1000);
+            throw new RuntimeException("Should never get here");
+        }).when(hangingFuture).get();
+
+        // Mock `offsetBackingStore.get()`
+        doAnswer(new Answer<Object>() {
+                int callCount = 0;
+
+                @Override
+                public Object answer(InvocationOnMock invocation) throws Throwable {
+                    if (callCount == 0) {
+                        callCount += 1;
+                        // First connector task
+                        return hangingFuture;
+                    } else {
+                        // Second connector task
+                        Thread.sleep(9999 * 1000);
+                        throw new RuntimeException("Should never get here");
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        ).when(offsetBackingStore).get(any());
+
+
+        // Connector task thread calls `offsets()` --> hangs on `hangingFuture.get()`
+        // --> the future is added to `offsetStorageReaderImpl.offsetReadFutures` and never removed
+        executor.submit(() -> {
+            offsetStorageReaderImpl.offsets(Collections.emptyList());
+        });
+        Thread.sleep(3000);
+
+        verify(offsetBackingStore, times(1)).get(any());
+        verify(hangingFuture, times(1)).get();
+
+        // Another connector task thread calls `offsets()` --> hangs on offsetBackingStore.get()
+        // --> the future is never added to `offsetStorageReaderImpl.offsetReadFutures`
+        executor.submit(() -> {
+            offsetStorageReaderImpl.offsets(Collections.emptyList());
+        });
+        Thread.sleep(3000);
+
+        verify(offsetBackingStore, times(2)).get(any());
+
+        // The herder thread should not block when trying to close `offsetStorageReaderImpl` and should complete
+        // before the test timeout
+        offsetStorageReaderImpl.close();
+
+        // The hanging future should be cancelled by `close()`
+        verify(hangingFuture, times(1)).cancel(true);
+    }
+}