THE four-team trade the Knicks made last night does not lift them into Miami’s stratosphere, unless a side deal for Dikembe Mutombo is in the offing.

They’re not getting very much back, but after all they never should have expected to. The trade of Patrick Ewing, one they insist they were forced into, will remove a potential cancer and major distraction.

Those who scoff at getting back only Glen Rice and Luc Longley and spare parts base their analysis on Ewing having a healthy season. Odds are, Ewing will not have a healthy season. Odds are, he won’t be around for the playoffs. Last season, Ewing missed all of training camp, the preseason games and the first 20 games of the regular season.

His creaky body still couldn’t last for the playoffs. He developed back spasms vs. Miami in Round 2. He succumbed to tendinitis in his right foot that forced him to miss two games and probably should’ve shelved him for the Indiana series. And lastly, he played with torn cartilage in his knee that wasn’t known until the season ended. It required arthroscopic knee surgery – his fifth.

When analyzing any Ewing trade now, analyzing his health is first and foremost. Ridding him from the locker room could be addition by subtraction and make the club a closer unit.

Everything was always tense with Ewing around. During his rehab early last season, his frosty exchange with Chris Childs was symbolic of the lack of trust he had with his teammates.

Childs, after being asked a specific question, described to a couple of reporters how Ewing looked in his first scrimmage. Ewing shot Childs a glare and said, “Don’t be talking about my business.”

“I’m allowed,” Childs shot back. “You’re a member of this team.”

Sometimes you’d never know it. No matter how much pain he played through, he was not warm to his mates, and that had an effect on the floor. Face it. Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell never felt the same comfort with Ewing on the floor than when he was off the floor.

Some Knick players seemed forced when they spoke glowingly about Ewing. When there was question whether Ewing would return for Game 5 in Indy last spring, most of his teammates said they had no idea. Ewing hadn’t said a peep. “You know Patrick,” Marcus Camby said. “He doesn’t talk to us either.” He was captain in name only.

The Knicks get Rice, perhaps over the hill, perhaps only caring about his contract. The Knicks get Longley, a limited, role-playing big body. They get a couple of first-rounders, which doesn’t mean as much in the watered-down draft.

Rice will be jacking 20-footers in the playoffs. Longley will be grinding his 260 pounds against Alonzo Mourning in April. It’s more than you can say about Ewing, who may have been just watching from the bench in a pinstriped suit had the Knicks kept him.