Evo expired & player still locked

I put my Karl into an EVO last week, but I didn’t claim the first reward because I regretted my choice. I waited for the EVO to expire, but he is still locked, as the game is asking me to claim the partial reward.

Am I forced to do that? I thought that letting the EVO expire would allow me to get my player back untouched, since I hadn’t claimed any reward from it.

Should I wait, or is my player lost?