NEW YORK — Amid rumblings that Giannis Antetokounmpo could ask to be traded by the Milwaukee Bucks, possibly as soon as the trade deadline, one NBA Insider says pump the brakes.

“Giannis is not on the table. Dame is not on the table,” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said Friday on “Inside the NBA.”

Windhorst said the Bucks having been making phone calls about possible smaller trades around the perimeter of their team that don’t include Giannis, the two-time NBA MVP, or Damian Lillard, an eight-time All-Star.

“The Bucks are doing something we don’t see very often, which is scouring the trade market in the first week of November,” Windhorst said on air “… I don’t think help is on the way through the trade market… They called pretty much the whole league… And by the way, Giannis is not on the table. Dame is not on the table.”

Several teams, including the Heat, Clippers, Knicks and Nets have been linked to Giannis, who was stretching in the visiting locker room Friday night and was expected to play against the Knicks despite being listed as probable (right adductor strain).

Windhorst underscored what several other experts have pointed out.

“The Bucks are hemmed in as a second apron team,” he said. “They cannot aggregate players together, they can’t put like two or three players together to make a trade. They can’t do a trade where they bring back more money. They have traded away their next six first-round picks, either the picks or the swaps. They traded away the next six second-round picks. They’re $75 million in the luxury tax.”

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Despite a 2-6 start to the season entering Friday’s game at the Knicks, Bucks coach Doc Rivers is optimistic his team will turn it around. The Bucks currently have the third-worst record in the East, but there is a long way to go.

Asked what made him confident, Rivers said, “Me and the team. I think we have a lot of good things here. And, you know, we’ve gotten off to a tough start, kind of a quirky schedule. We haven’t played well. We’ve played three home games this year, and it’s going to come together.

“I’m not concerned by that. I really am not. I think everyone else may be outside of us. I don’t think anybody in our building is concerned, but still the talk is all great and all that stuff, but you still got to win games.”

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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.