Return is the headline of a record. Drawdown is its risk budget, and a risk budget is what an allocator is actually buying.
Why it sets the size
A firm with a 10% loss limit cannot hand a full allocation to a trader whose measured worst run is 30%, however good the returns around it were. The same trader at a 9% maximum drawdown is a different conversation entirely — not because the strategy improved, but because the firm can now size it.
Recovery is half the number
Two traders both down 12% are not in the same position. One is flat again in three weeks having traded the same way throughout. The other takes five months and doubles size on the way back. The depth was identical; almost nothing else was.
Hiding it is the one unrecoverable move
A trader who declares a 22% drawdown and explains it is having a normal conversation. A trader whose measured record shows a 22% drawdown they did not mention is having a much shorter one. Measurement finds it either way, so the only decision is whether it arrives from you.